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Community, Resistance, and Sustainability in an Okinawan Village: Yomitan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

Miyume Tanji
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Like Ui Jun, Miyume TANJI examines the environmental and economic effects of the disproportionately large U.S. military presence on Okinawa from the bottom up—in this case, through the lens of one village on the west coast of Okinawa. Tanji too is concerned with the various influences of the U.S. military on local communities in Okinawa, but subtly pushes back against a narrative of victimization and is ultimately a bit more hopeful in tone than Ui. This is because she focuses on the village of Yomitan, unique among Okinawan villages in its success at not becoming a base-dependent service economy. Tanji offers Yomitan as a model, because it has attempted since the 1970s to resist both the environmental and economic challenges presented by local dependence on U.S. military bases through sustainable and endogenous community development.

Type
Part II - Environmental Degradation: Responses and Resistance
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 10 , Special Issue S2: Course Reader No. 2. Environmental History , January 2012 , pp. 137 - 156
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Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2012

References

Notes

1. Johnson, Chalmers. (2006) Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic. New York, Metropolitan Books. P.1

2. Johnson criticizes the privileges given to the US forces that disadvantage and humiliate the local population. These are guaranteed by the Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA) between the US and allies that host its foreign military bases. The SOFA essentially warrants special privileges for US forces, exempting them from rights and obligations normally required under the host state's laws and regulations.

3. Jim Ife, & Frank Tesoriero. (2006) Community Development: Community-based Alternatives in an Age of Globalisation. French Forest NSW: Pearson Education Australia. p.96-98.

4. Ibid. p.15.

5. Okinawa Taimusu, 31 December 2008.

6. Ibid.

7. Sasaki Masayuki. (1999) ‘Sustainable development in Okinawa for the 21st century’. In Chalmers Johnson (ed.), Okinawa: Cold War Island (p. 247-260). Cardiff, CA: Japan Policy Research Institute. P.55-57

8. Ibid. p. 265-267

9. Sasaki Masayuki. (2000) ‘Toshi to Nouson no Jizokuteki Naihatsuteki Hatten’ [Sustainable endogenous development in urban and rural regions]. In Miyamoto Ken'ichi & Sasaki Masayuki (eds.), Okinawa 21 Seiki e no Chousen [Okinawa's Challenges in the 21st Century] p. 151-173. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. P. 158-159

10. Takara Sachika. (2006) ‘Kichi no nai mirai o mezashite: chiiki no tokusei o ikashita machizukuri to jiritsu’ [Aiming for a future without military bases: town development and independence relying on local characteristics] In Hatakeyama Dai & Kumamoto Hiroyuki (eds.), Okinawa no datsu gunjika to chiikiteki shutaisei: hukkigo sedai no ‘Okinawa’ [Demilitarisation and local autonomy in Okinawa for the post-reversion generation]. Tokyo: Nishida Shoten. p.180

11. In 1962, 94.5% of Yomitan's households were engaged in farming. Yomitan Sonshi Henshu Iinkai. (1995). Yomitan Sonshi [Yomitan Village History] Vol.4 No. 3 Part 1. Namihira, Yomitan Son: Yomitan Son Yakuba. P.341

12. T. Yamauchi. (2007) Okinawa Yomitan Son Kenpouryoku ga tsukuridasu Heiwa to Jichi [The Constitutional Power of Okinawa's Yomitan Village Creates Peace and Autonomy]. Tokyo: Akashi Shoten. p.108-109

13. Sean Banasick. (2005). ‘U.S. Military Bases and Sustainable Development in Okinawa’. International Journal of Environmental Cultural Social and Economic Sustainability, 1(1), p.143-150. p.143, 147.

14. Japanese social scientist Tsurumi Kazuko originally developed this notion, inspired by intellectuals in the Meiji period (1868-1912) such as Yanagita Kunio and Minakata Kumagusu. See Tsurumi Kazuko. (1996) Naihatsuteki Hatten Ron no Tenkai [The evolution of the endogenous development theory]. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo.

15. Sasaki, ‘Sustainable development in Okinawa for the 21st century’. See note 7 above.

16. Miyamoto Ken'ichi (2000) ‘Okinawa no Iji Kanou na Hatten no tame ni’ [For Okinawa's Sustainable Development]. In Miyamoto Ken'ichi & Sasaki Masayuki (eds.), Okinawa 21 Seiki e no Chousen [Okinawa's Challenges in the 21st Century p.1-30]. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. p.25

17. Gavan McCormack (1998) Okinawan Dilemmas: Coral Islands or Concrete Islands. JPRI Working Paper, 45, April.

18. Kohno Masaru. (2003) A Changing Ministry of International Trade and Industry In Jennifer Amyx & Peter Drysdale (eds.), Japan's Governance: Beyond Japan Inc. London and New York: Routledge.

19. The decision to close Futenma Air Station followed the surge of anti-base protest in Okinawa caused by the 1995 kidnapping and gang-raping of a 12-year-old school girl by U.S. soldiers.

20. See Banasick, ‘U.S. Military Bases and Sustainable Development in Okinawa’. See note 12 above; Masamichi Inoue. (2007) Okinawa and the U.S. Military: Identity Making in the Age of Globalization; Miyagi Yasuhiro & Miyume Tanji. (2007) ‘Okinawa and the Paradox of Public Opinion: Base Politics and Protest in Nago City, 1997-2007’. The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, (3 August, 2007.

21. Banasick, ‘U.S. Military Bases and Sustainable Development in Okinawa’. See note 13 above; Sasaki, ‘Toshi to Nouson no Jizokuteki Naihatsuteki Hatten’. See note 9 above.

22. Gavan McCormack. (2007) Client State: Japan in the American Embrace. London and New York: Verso. p. 163

23. Nago shi chiiki koyou souzou kyougi kai [Nago City local employment creation committee] (2008) ‘Kinyuu/jouhou Tokku’[The special financial and information technology zone]. Retrieved 20 December, 2008.

24. Nago City. (2003) Nago City International Information Technology and Financial Centre Nago City, Okinawa: Nago City Government. Cited in Banasick, ‘U.S. Military Bases and Sustainable Development in Okinawa’, p. 145

25. Ryukyu Shimpo, 11 November 2008.

26. IT and Finance Special Zone Promotion Section, Nago City Office, Interview, November 2007.

27. Miyagi Yasuhiro, & Miyume Tanji (2007) ‘Okinawa and the Paradox of Public Opinion’ See note 20 above.

28. Ryukyu Shimpo, 11 November 2008.

29. Ryukyu Shimpo, 12 November 2008.

30. Miyagi Yasuhiro, & Miyume Tanji (2007) ‘Okinawa and the Paradox of Public Opinion’. See note 20 above.

31. Okinawa Ken Soumubu Zaisei-ka [Financial Planning Section] (2005) ‘Shichouson Zaisei Hikaku Bunseki Hyo’ [Municipality public finance comparative chart],

32. Okinawa Taimusu, 31 December 2008.

33. Sasaki, ‘Sustainable development in Okinawa for the 21st century’. p.253. See note 7 above.

34. Miyamoto, ‘Okinawa no Iji Kanou na Hatten no tame ni’ p.25. See note 15 above.

35. Yomitan Son. (2008) ‘Yomitan son no jinkou to toukei’ [Population and Statistics of Yomitan Village]. Retrieved 31 October, 2008.

36. Nishikawa Jun (2004) Naihatsuteki Hatten no Riron to Seisaku [The theory and policy of endogenous development]. Waseda Seiji Keizai Gaku Zasshi, 354, 36-43.

37. Ife & Tesoriero, Community Development: Community-based Alternatives in an Age of Globalisation. p. 2-13. See note 3 above.

38. Holling, C. S. (1986) ‘The resilience of terrestiral ecosystems: local surprise and global change’. In William C. Clark & R. E. Munn (eds.), Sustainable Development of the Biosphere p. 292-320. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

39. W. Neil Adger. (2000) ‘Social and ecological resilience: are they related?’ Progress in Human Geography, 24(3), 347-364. p.347

40. Richard Klein, J. T., Nicholls, Robert. J., & Thomalla, Frank. (2003). ‘Resilience to natural hazards: How useful is this concept?’ Environmental Hazards, 5, 35-45. p.38

41. Lebel, Louis. et al. (2006). ‘Governance and the Capacity to Manage Resilience in Regional Social-Ecological Systems.’ Ecology and Society, 11(1) Retrieved 23 February 2009.

42. Ibid.

43. Yomitan Sonshi Henshu Iinkai. (2002b). Yomitan Sonshi (Yomitan Village History) Vol.5 Part I. Zakimi, Yomitan Son: Yomitan Son Yakuba. p.86. 90.

44. Among the estimated 6,390 villagers who evacuated or escaped to the forests in the mountainous northern region of Okinawa, many starved to death or were killed by malaria. Ibid., p.35

45. Yomitan Village. (2008) Yomitan Vaacharu Shiryoukan [Virtual Archive] Retrieved 25 February.

46. T. Yamauchi & A. Mizushima. (1997). Okinawa Yomitan Son no Chousen [The Ventures of Yomitan Village, Okinawa]. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. p. 8-10

47. Kinjo Jiro, the most prominent pottery artist in this style, migrated from Naha in 1972 and contributed to the establishment of a distinctively Yomitan pottery industry.

48. T. Hara. (2003). ‘Okinawa, Yomitan-son no Toshi Keikaku Masta puran to “huu-sui”’ [The City Planning Master Plan of Yomitan, Okinawa and ‘Fengshui’). Toshi Keikaku, 52(4), p.2124. p.22-23

49. L. Too. (1997). Basic Fengshui. Kuala Lumpur: Konsep Books. p.1

50. R. Warai. (2003). Shiawase o yobu Ryukyu Huu sui (Ryukyuan fengshui for your happiness). Naha, Okinawa: Bohda-inku. p.1

51. Ife & Tesoriero, Community Development: Community-based Alternatives in an Age of Globalisation. p. 124. See note 3 above.

52. US-Japan Joint Committee is a key decision-making actor under the US-Japan Mutual Security Pact

53. The facilities include, among others, a concert hall where cultural events are held, the Yomitan Weaving Centre, the Yomitan Welfare Centre, a Democracy Forum, an Agricultural Forum and large parking areas.

54. Hara, ‘Okinawa, Yomitan-son no Toshi Keikaku Masta puran to “huu-sui”’. p.23. See note 48 above.

55. Apart from the examples cited here, related struggles included demonstrations and picketing against the expansion of Sobe Beach (exclusively used by the US military), deployment of the Army First Special Group, and the runway reconstruction training in the Yomitan Auxiliery Airfield. Yamauchi & Mizushima, Okinawa Yomitan Son no Chousen p.15 See note 46 above.

56. N. Field. (1993) In the Realm of a Dying Emperor: Japan at Century's End. (3rd ed.). New York: VIntage Books. p.33-104

57. Ibid, p.66.

58. Ibid.

59. Ibid, p.80.

60. Ibid, p.87

61. Ibid, p.66.

62. Ibid, p.67.

63. M. Tanji, (2006). Myth, Protest and Struggle in Okinawa. London: RoutledgeCurzon.